Kashmir, Kashmir Timeline

Kashmir: Nuclear Flashpoint

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What about Article 370?

Popular Insurgency or Terrorism?

Is Kashmir movement communal?

Pandit tragedy

Pakistan's Record in Kashmir

Elections in Kashmir

plebiscite Conundrum

Is a solution possible?

Human Rights in Kashmir

Renegade Militants

Keywords: Kashmir Dispute. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir Dispute.

Keywords: Kashmir Insurgency. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir Insurgency.

Introduction
Pre-1947
1947 Kashmir War

1948-1954 UN efforts

1955-1964

1965 Kashmir war

1966-1986

1989 insurgency and after

1999 Kargil War and after

Bloodshed so far

Proposed solutions

Keywords: Kashmir Timeline, Kashmir History. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir, Kashmir Timeline.

Keywords: Kashmir History. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir History.

Keywords: Kashmir conflict. The Kashmir conflict continues to be unresolved after more than six decades,fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and bleeding their economy. Both countries have gone to war on three occasions over Kashmir. Keywords: Kashmir conflict.

1948-1954 Timeline

  • 1948: India takes the Kashmir problem to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on 1 January.

  • 1949: On 1 January, a ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces leaves India in control of most of the valley, as well as Jammu and Ladakh, while Pakistan gains control of part of Kashmir including what Pakistan calls "Azad" Kashmir and Northern territories. Pakistan claims it is merely supporting an indigenous rebellion in "Azad" Kashmir and Northern Territories against repression, while India terms that territory as POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir).

  • 1949: On 5 January 1949, UNCIP (United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan) resolution states that the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite. As per the 1948 and 1949 UNCIP Resolutions, both countries accept the principle, that Pakistan secures the withdrawal of Pakistani intruders followed by withdrawal of Pakistani and Indian forces, as a basis for the formulation of a Truce agreement whose details are to be arrived in future, followed by a plebiscite; However, both countries fail to arrive at a Truce agreement due to differences in interpretation of the procedure for and extent of demilitarisation one of them being whether the Azad Kashmiri army is to be disbanded during the truce stage or the plebiscite stage.

  • 1949: On 17 October, the Indian Constituent Assembly adopts Article 370 of the Constitution, ensuring a special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, with Indian jurisdiction in Kashmir limited to the three areas agreed in the IOA, namely, defence, foreign affairs and communications.

  • 1951: First post-independence elections. The UN passes a resolution to the effect that such elections do not substitute a plebiscite, because a plebiscite offers the option of choosing between India and Pakistan. Sheikh Abdullah wins, mostly unopposed. There are widespread charges of election rigging which continue to plague all the subsequent elections; Effectively, the Center would rule the State with the help of its local nominees, imposing an one-party Rule with no avenues for the growth of opposition.

  • 1947-1952: Sheikh Abdullah drifts from a position of endorsing accession to India in 1947 to insisting on the self-determination of Kashmiris in 1952. In July 1952, he signs Delhi Agreement with the Central government on Centre-State relationships, providing for autonomy of the State within India and of regions within the State; Article 370 is confirmed and the State is allowed to have its own flag. The domination of Kashmir Valley(which has a 95% Muslim majority and accounts for more than 50% of the total population of Indian J&K)and Abdullah's land reforms create discontent in Jammu and Ladakh; An agitation is launched in the Hindu-majority Jammu region against the Delhi Agreement and in favour of full accession with the Indian Union; the movement is withdrawn later, due to pressure from the Center; Secessionist sentiments in the Valley and communalism in Jammu feed each other.
  • 1953-1954: In 1953, the governments of India and Pakistan agree to appoint a Plebiscite Administrator by the end of April 1954.

    Abdullah procrastinates in confirming the accession of Kashmir to India. In August 1953, Abdullah is dismissed and arrested. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed is installed in power, who then gets the accession formally ratified in 1954.

    Pakistan and US sign a Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement in May 1954; Nehru states that he is concerned about the cold-war alignments and that such an alliance affects the Kashmir issue. India would resist plebiscite efforts from then on. Kashmiri activists continue to insist on the promised self-determination.
    • Balraj Puri, Kashmir: Towards Insurgency, New Delhi 1993, p.19.
    • Prem Nath Bazaz, Democracy through Intimidation and Terror, New Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1978, p.15.
    In September 1954, Pakistan joins SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization) and later CENTO (Central Treaty Organization) in 1955, aligning herself with US, UK, Turkey and Iran. From 1955, Indo-Soviet relations become closer with India receiving Soviet military aid and later the Soviet would veto the 1962 UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir in favour of India.
    Alastair Lamb, Kashmir A Disputed Legacy 1846-1990, Roxford 1991, pp.227-231

    • References:
  • UNCIP Resolution, 5 JANUARY, 1949.
  • UNCIP Resolution, 13 August, 1948.
  • UNCIP Resolution, 30 March, 1951.
  • Official Records of the United Nations Security Council, Meeting No:534, 6 March 1951, pp.13-20.
  • Article 370 of the Indian Constitution
  • Explanation of Article 370
  • Prem Nath Bazaz, Democracy through Intimidation and Terror, New Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1978, p.15, 87.
  • Josef Korbel, Danger in Kashmir, Princeton, N.J. 1966, p.262
  • Balraj Puri, Kashmir: Towards Insurgency, New Delhi 1993, pp.27-30